High-End Immigrants and the Shortage of Skilled Labor

Thomas Espenshade
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Thomas Espenshade: Princeton University

No 320, Working Papers from Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Office of Population Research.

Abstract: The 1990 Immigration Act (IMMACT) responded to claims of an impending shortage of skilled labor in the United States (Johnston and Packer, 1987) and to growing concerns that the skill levels of immigrant workers were falling farther and farther behind those of natives (Borjas, 1990, 1994). IMMACT raised the annual number of employment-based permanent resident visas from 54,000 to 140,000 and created a new temporary-worker category (H-1B) to permit U.S. employers to recruit skilled workers from abroad for professional specialty occupations. The latter include, for example, computer programmers, engineers, medical professionals, and accountants.1 H-1B workers must have at least a bachelor?s degree or its equivalent, and they may remain in the United States for up to six years. In 1990 Congress decided to cap the number of newly admitted H-1B workers at 65,000 per year.

JEL-codes: F22 J21 K37 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999-06
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